Jon Bernthal made his official MCU debut in Daredevil: Born Again earlier this year, and after taking centre stage in an upcoming Special Presentation on Disney+, we'll then see him in Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Set photos and videos have suggested Frank Castle will find himself at odds with the web-slinger. It's also been reported that he'll arm himself with enhanced weaponry to take on superpowered individuals like Spidey and The Scorpion.
Today, scooper @MyTimeToShineH brings word that The Punisher will have a partner in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and that this mystery character will be a she. Much has been said about the movie featuring a female villain, so this could be her.
The most likely possibility for Frank's new ally is Rachel Cole-Alvez. In the comics, just hours after Rachel Cole's wedding to surgeon Daniel Alves, a gang war erupted, resulting in the deaths of twenty-nine people at their wedding reception, including her new husband.
Following her recovery, the Marine sergeant teamed up with The Punisher to take her revenge on the criminals who destroyed her life.
Rachel is a redhead, so this could be another character we can add to the list of possibilities for who Sadie Sink is playing. There's been some chatter about her being revealed as a villain, and if she's working with Frank, then you can likely see how that would put Rachel at odds with Peter Parker.
"When Punisher is in the Spider-Man movie, it’ll be a different tonality," Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said earlier this summer. "I think there’s a promise at the end of 'No Way Home,' that for as sad as it is that Peter is forgotten by everyone in his life, we are seeing for the first time in the Tom Holland Spider-Man stories him being a proper Spider-Man."
"Him being by himself, dedicated to saving the city, and dealing with, for lack of better terms, street-level crime, as opposed to world-ending events," he continued. "So when you do that, you say, okay, who are the other street-level characters that we’ve never seen him interact with? And of course, I love that The Punisher started in a Spider-Man comic."
Who do you think The Punisher's female ally could be in Spider-Man: Brand New Day?
Spider-Man: Brand New Day shares a title with a divisive era of storytelling, which, thanks to a deal with Mephisto, saw the wall-crawler get a fresh start when his marriage to Mary Jane Watson ended and his identity became secret again. He faced many new sinister foes during that time and was surrounded by an overhauled supporting cast, including a resurrected Harry Osborn.
Mister Negative, Jackpot, Menace, and Carlie Cooper were some of the standout additions to his world, though they don't currently look set to appear in this movie. Instead, all signs point to Spidey teaming up with (and at some point fighting) The Punisher to take on a Savage Hulk, with The Scorpion thrown in for good measure.
Several other villains are reportedly set to appear in the movie, including Tombstone, Tarantula, Boomerang, and Ramrod. There's been some chatter online about the Venom Symbiote factoring into the story, potentially setting the stage for Mac Gargan to eventually don the alien costume.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings helmer Destin Daniel Cretton directs Spider-Man: Brand New Day from a script by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Tom Holland leads a cast that also includes Jon Bernthal, Mark Ruffalo, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Michael Mando, Tramell Tillman, and Liza Colón-Zayas. Thunderbolts* star Florence Pugh is also rumoured to have joined the cast.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be released in theaters on July 31, 2026.